Absentee ballot applications are available and can be requested and turned in anytime for each calendar year. The application deadline is 10 days prior to the election. You can request a ballot for a specific election or for all elections in the year. To receive an absentee ballot by mail, you must first send an application in order for your voter registration to be verified. One you have submitted your absentee ballot, you can verify your status by using your Secretary of State's tool.

Apply early to receive your ballot in time. Regular absentee ballots are mailed approximately one to two weeks before an election. If your absentee ballot is to be sent to a remote area of Alaska and you will be there 60 days before or during an election, you may request a special advance ballot on this site.

A special advance ballot will be mailed approximately 60 days before the election up until 32 days before the election. A regular ballot will also be mailed when available. Vote and return both ballots to make sure one is received. If both are received, only the regular ballot will be counted. Vote your ballot, have your signature witnessed on the envelope and mail it by Election Day.

If you have questions about your absentee ballot application, you should contact the absentee voting office at (907) 375-6400.

Absentee Voting by fax should be your last alternative to casting your ballot. By using this method to return your voted ballot, you need to be aware that you are voluntarily waiving your right to a secret ballot. You must apply separately for each election. You must submit your request no later than 5:00 pm the day before Election Day. If you are returning your ballot by fax, it must be voted, witnessed and received by the appropriate fax in the absentee voting office by 8:00 pm on Election Day.

If you are a qualified voter who is disabled, you may apply for an absentee ballot through a personal representative who can bring the ballot to you. A personal representative can be anyone over 18, except a candidate for office in the election, your employer, an agent of your employer, or an officer or agent of your union. Ballots are available 15 days before the primary, general or statewide special election at any regional elections office.

The personal representative brings the completed application to an election official for a ballot and takes the ballot to you. You complete a certificate authorizing the personal representative to carry your ballot, vote the ballot privately, place it in a secrecy sleeve and seal it inside the envelope provided. The personal representative brings the voted ballot back to the election official by 8:00 pm on Election Day.

Overseas citizens and U.S. military personnel can register to vote and request an absentee ballot at the Overseas Vote Foundation.

Campaign Finance Information

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For information on federal campaign contributions, please visit Open Secrets.

Not registered to vote in any other state, unless you're willing to cancel your registration in that state

NOTE: You may register to vote 90 days before you turn 18, however, you must be 18 on or before Election Day in order to cast a ballot.

ID Needed for Voter Registration

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If you register by mail, you are required to include information that will verify your identity. If you have not previously registered to vote in Alaska and you are submitting your registration application by mail, you must provide a copy of one of the following:

Driver's license

State ID

Passport

Birth certificate

If your identity cannot be verified when you register to vote, you will be required to provide certain identification when voting.

Driver's license

State ID card

Birth certificate

Passport

Your birth date

Your Social Security number or at least the last 4 digits of your Social Security number

ID Needed for Voting?

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You will need to show your signed voter ID card, or any other signed ID that will allow the election worker to verify your signature. Examples include your driver's license, military ID, Indian ID, fish and game license, state ID card, passport, or senior citizen ID card. A picture ID is not necessary.

You may also present one of the following forms of ID if it includes your name and current address:

current utility bill or pay check

government check or bank statement

other government issued ID

After showing your ID, you will sign your name on the precinct register. When doing this, check the address that is listed. If your address is incorrect, tell the election worker and vote a questioned ballot. This will allow the Division of Elections to update your voter registration record with your correct address.

If you do not have an acceptable ID you can get one from your local DMV.

If you do not have ID or your name does not appear on the precinct register, you must vote a questioned ballot.

Overseas and Military Voters

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You are a Military or Overseas voter if you are in uniformed services, living overseas OR a spouse or dependent of a uniformed services voter. To get registered and vote, you can utilize Overseas Vote Foundation.

If you have additional questions about elections and voting overseas you can use our state specific elections official directory or contact the Overseas Vote Foundation.

Poll Worker Information

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In order to be a poll worker in Alaska:

You must be registered to vote in Alaska

Be willing to work about 16 hours a day or more on Election Day, or share a position and work a split shift or attend four to five hour paid training session

Must be willing to be non-partisan on Election Day and not say any political opinions while working

Polling Place Hours

The polling place hours are from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm for Primary, General and Statewide Special Elections and 8:00am to 8:00am for Regional Educational Attendance Area (REAA) elections.

Polling Place Locator

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You can find your polling place by utilizing your state resource. If you have further questions regarding your polling place location, please contact your local elections official.

Provisional Voting

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Provisional ballots are counted 15 days after the election.

Provisional voting is available if you do not have identification or are not personally known by the election official, or if your name does not appear on the precinct register at the polling place where you are attempting to vote. You will have to vote a provisional ballot that will be delivered to a regional election office for verification of eligibility before being counted.

Provisions for Voters with Disabilities

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If you are a qualified voter who is disabled, you may apply for an absentee ballot through a personal representative who can bring the ballot to you. A personal representative can be anyone over 18, except a candidate for office in the election, your employer, an agent of your employer, or an officer or agent of your union. Ballots are available 15 days before the primary, general or statewide special election at any regional elections office.

The personal representative brings the completed application to an election official for a ballot and takes the ballot to you. You complete a certificate authorizing the personal representative to carry your ballot, vote the ballot privately, place it in a secrecy sleeve and seal it inside the envelope provided. The personal representative brings the voted ballot back to the election official by 8:00 pm on Election Day.

In addition to bilingual assistance in many polling places, the division of elections has a TTY communication device for the hearing impaired, magnifying ballot viewers at the polling places and audio recordings of the general election official election pamphlet for the visually impaired, and handicapped accessible polling places.

You may bring someone to help you at the polls. The person you bring may go into the booth with you and assist you with voting. This includes election officials, friends, family members, bystanders, campaign workers and anyone else who is not your employer, an agent of your employer, or officer or agent of your union. If you had planned on going to your polling place on Election Day but become ill or are homebound, you can vote by having a personal representative bring you a ballot. If this is inconvenient, you can apply up to seven days before an election for an absentee ballot to be mailed to you. If your specific type of special services needed are not covered here, please contact an elections office for assistance.

Registration Deadline

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The registration deadline is 30 days before an election.

Alaska law allows for same day voter registration for the purposes of voting for President and Vice President of the United States. You may vote a questioned ballot at any polling place, vote an in-person absentee ballot at an absentee voting location or vote by mail.

Time Off To Vote

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Employers must allow sufficient paid time off to vote for their employees, unless the employer has at least two consecutive hours to vote before or after his/her work hours.

Verify Voter Registration

Voting Machines

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The voting systems used in Alaska are optical scan, touch screen-paper ballots and hand count.

Optical Scan: With this system, you will receive a card or sheet of paper, which you take over to a private table or booth. The card has the names of the various candidates and ballot measures printed on it. With a pen or pencil you fill in a little box or circle or the space between two arrows. When you are finished filling out all the cards, you may bring the cards over to a ballot box, where poll workers will show you how to put the cards in the box. Or in some places, you may feed the completed cards or papers into a computer device that checks your card or paper right there at the polling place to make sure you have voted the way you want to and counts the votes.

Touch Screen-Paper ballots: These units used in Alaska have a voter verifiable paper trail that allows the voter to verify the printed version of the ballot prior to casting the ballot. When voting on a touch screen, the voter has the option of having the ballot on the screen and/or listen to an audio version of the ballot and using a keypad to make the selection. Like the optical scan, when the polls close, the election board ends the election on the touch screen and then transmit results either via telephone line (for optical scan precincts) or by calling in the results to the regional office (for hand-count precincts).

Hand Count: These precincts are those precincts that are in rural areas of the state with fewer voters. After the polls close, the election boards tally the ballots using prepared tally books and then call in the results to the appropriate regional office. The regional offices then data enter the results into the regional GEMS computer and uploads the results to the GEMS system in the Director's Office via modem connection. There are 133 hand-count precincts in Alaska.

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